The Tribeca Film Festival unveiled the 2013 film selections in its Spotlight and Midnight categories, as well as Storyscapes projects and special screenings. Yesterday, the festival announced its selections for the Narrative and Documentary categories.

The festival, now in its 12th year, will take place in New York City from April 17-28. The Spotlight category features premieres of films that often have high-profile talent attached, while the Midnight section includes action, horror, sci-fi and other genre films.

For the first time, the festival will include a Storyscapes section that highlights trends in digital media and interactive, multiplatform storytelling.

Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid’s “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia” takes the form of a self-help book. Among the maxims it imparts to its nameless hero are: “Move to the city,” and “Work for yourself.” But it also contains advice that would make Dr. Phil shudder, including “Be prepared to use violence.” The novel winds up being a wry re-imagination of the self-help genre, as well as a surprisingly tender love story set in a turbulent country.

That country isn’t identified as Pakistan in this third novel by the 41-year-old Hamid. His tale of a village boy-turned-water industrialist could be set in any number of places, he says, arguing that excluding names opens the door to universality. “It doesn’t take much to make it into the story of a migrant from the countryside to the city in Caracas or Sao Paulo or Lagos or Johannesburg or Bangkok,” Hamid says.

Hamid, who spent part of his childhood in the U.S. and has a degree from Harvard Law School, has also penned the novels “Moth Smoke” and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.”

Hamid spoke to Speakeasy via Skype from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, about his new book, writing in the second person, and director Mira Nair’s forthcoming film version of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” Read More »

The coming movie “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” takes a fresh look at the impact of 9/11, this time from the perspective of a Princeton-educated Pakistani man who finds his promising Wall Street career derailed by the disaster. Directed by Mira Nair, the movie was adapted from the novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid.

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.